


Arbor Day

by deputyhugo



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Miller/Tysen/Shear & Federle
Genre: Arbor Day, Gen, Modern Day, Post-Canon, Trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:45:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7747294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deputyhugo/pseuds/deputyhugo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Tuck Brothers celebrate Arbor Day and Jesse shares his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arbor Day

Miles wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary that day. He was up early, finishing up his lesson plan for the day, feeding his dog, and watering the plants that sat by the window of his little apartment. Just as he did every Friday morning.

Abruptly, his phone started to buzz. He glanced at it, to see JESSE TUCK: DO NOT ANSWER printed across the screen, paired with that stupid photo he had taken of Jesse trying to drink from the far side of a glass a few years ago. Miles’s shoulders tensed. Calls from Jesse weren’t unusual, but they never typically came this early in the morning. Something must be wrong. Ignoring his phone’s warning, Miles picked up the phone and swiped to answer.

“Arbor Day, man.” Jesse’s voice blared out from the phone’s speaker before Miles could even greet his brother.

Jesse sounded happy. Miles relaxed in relief, only to find his relief immediately replaced by confusion. “Arbor - what? Jesse, why did you call me?”

“Arbor Day!” Jesse practically shrieked back at him. “Dude, it’s a holiday to celebrate trees!”

“I know that,” Miles huffed. “That’s been around for at least a hundred years. Probably longer.”

“Over two hundred,” Jesse said. “Established in eighteen seventy-two in Nebraska. Celebrated on the last Friday of April.”

That made today Arbor Day, Miles thought. “How do you know that?”

“I’m reading from Wikipedia. Point is, how come you didn’t tell me?”

Miles sighed, his confusion swiftly turning to exasperation. “Why would I tell you about Arbor Day? I thought you knew! Everyone knows about Arbor Day!”

“That can’t be. I’ve never seen anyone celebrate it, and I’ve been alive longer than it’s existed.”

“Because nobody cares! Jesse, it’s a pointless holiday unless you’re, like, a conservationist or something.”

“But it’s a holiday for trees!.” Jesse exclaimed. “How come more people aren’t excited about this? Trees! Everyone likes trees, not just conservationists. Come on, we’re gonna go plant one.”

“We?” Miles snorted. “Aren’t you in Los Angeles right now?”

“I was.” Jesse corrected him. “Until I heard about Arbor Day online. I’ve been driving for a week.”

Miles felt his stomach drop as his brother spoke. Jesse couldn’t actually mean to drag him out of his house at this hour to go plant a tree, did he? “...And where are you now?”

Jesse chuckled in delight. “Upstate New York, bro! I’ll be at your house in a couple of minutes.”

“Jesse!” Miles couldn’t believe this. “You can’t be ser-”

A loud thumping interrupted Miles, emanating from his front door. Dread consumed him as he trudged across his apartment. He flung the door open to reveal Jesse, holding a spade and grinning from ear to ear.

“Did I say a couple of minutes? I meant seconds!” He flung the spade towards Miles.

Miles caught it with ease. “Why didn’t you ask me about this earlier?”

“Cause I knew you would say no, obviously!” Jesse said. “Come on, I didn’t get two weeks off from work to drive across the country only to have my big brother abandon me on this joyous occasion!” 

Miles attempted to protest, but before he could quite understand what had happened, Jesse had pulled him out the door and into his dingy convertible. In moments they were on their way to the local park to celebrate what was likely the most inconsequential holiday ever invented.

“You know I have to work this morning, right?” Miles said. 

“Naah.” Jesse shook his head. “I called in last night, told the principal that Ma was on death’s door or something. You’ve already got a sub.”

Miles rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. “And you decided not to tell me any of this?”

“Hey, you like surprises, don’t you?”

“Not at all.” Miles growled, but he couldn’t help but feel a touch happy at the prospect of spending time with Jesse. They hadn’t hung out ages. Not since Christmas, really. It would be nice to talk to his brother again. As long as Jesse didn’t do anything stupid. Well, more stupid than what he had already done.

They arrived at the park and got to work gardening. “Isn’t this illegal?” Miles asked, wiping his dirt-covered hands on his breeches. 

Jesse shrugged. “Not if we don’t get caught.”

Miles supposed that was true. It didn’t seem like anyone was monitoring the park too closely that morning, and it wasn’t like they were hurting anyone. He shrugged and returned to digging, letting Jesse fill the silence with mindless chatter.

Once they had finished, Jesse stretched his legs and smiled up at Jesse. “Want to climb a tree?”

Miles snorted. “No. We’ve planted your tree, now take me back home. If I’m not going to work today, I might as well sleep. Or better yet, get a head start on tomorrow’s lesson.” 

“Come on!” Jesse sounded a little desperate. “When was the last time you climbed a tree? Have you even touched a tree branch since we drank the water?”

“Of course I have,” Miles huffed, but looking back on it, he couldn’t remember the last time he had climbed a tree. When they were children, he and Jesse had practically lived in the branches of the trees surrounding their home, but when he had grown he left that particular hobby behind.

“It’ll be fun,” Jesse promised. “Please, Miles?”

Miles chuckled. “I didn’t know that ‘please’ was in your vocabulary, Jesse.” He glanced down at Jesse’s face, only to see an unexpected sadness in his brother’s eyes. He wondered when the last time Jesse had climbed a tree with someone else, rather than in the solitude their curse forced him to endure. “Fine, I’ll climb a tree with you. Just one.”

Jesse punched the air. “Nice!” 

It took Jesse nearly an hour to locate the perfect tree for him and Miles to climb, a massive oak tree with thick, sturdy branches. Once it was found, Miles began to scale its branches, finding that his muscles remembered how to climb even if he did not. He and Jesse made swift progress until they could go no further, whereupon they sat upon a thick branch and admired their view of the park.

“So, how’s climbing treating you, bro?” Jesse asked, grinning.

“So-so,” Miles found himself surprisingly winded, but he wasn’t about to let Jesse know how tired the climb had made him. “Do you think you’ve sufficiently celebrated Arbor Day yet?”

“I guess.” Jesse shrugged, his smile slipping away. “You know, when I first heard about it, it made me think of her.”

“Ah,” Miles looked down at the ground far beneath him. This was a sensitive subject, one probably best left unbroached. Even after more than a hundred years, he knew Jesse still ached over that particular loss. He had made other friends since then, good friends, but there was still only one person who had ever known their secret. No one else would ever share that, so no one else would ever matter as much as Winnie Foster had. 

“She would’ve loved this,” Jesse whispered, barely loud enough for Miles to hear.

“I guess she would’ve,” Miles agreed, not sure what else to say.

“That’s really why I drove up here,” Jesse mumbled. “I started thinking about her, and all the fun we could’ve had on on this holiday together, and then I couldn’t stand being alone anymore.”

A tear dripped down Jesse’s nose. It was unlike Jesse to suddenly open up like this, especially when it came to Winnie Foster. Miles wondered just how lonely Jesse had been in Los Angeles. Lonely enough to drive across the country, apparently. 

Miles stood up, balancing himself on the edge of a branch. “Come on, let’s go climb another tree.” He suggested.

Jesse looked up at him with slightly red eyes. “You don’t have to climb any more. You only promised me one.”

Miles smiled. “Well, you were right. Climbing trees is fun. And it’s not like I’ve got anything else to do.”

Jesse didn’t mention Winnie for the rest of the day, but Miles could feel his relief at not being alone again. When the day came to an end and Jesse prepared to return to Los Angeles, Miles made a mental note not to let so much time pass between visiting his little brother. Jesse seemed like the tough one of the Tuck family, but he wasn’t nearly as invulnerable as he tried to be.

The next Monday, Miles gave his fourth-grade class a surprise lesson on Arbor Day. After all, everyone likes trees, he thought. Not just conservationists.


End file.
